Scaredy Cat
by TrashAY fanfiction
Summary: Ash and Eiji's second Halloween together. The weight of the world is no longer on their shoulders. Domestic fluff.


Scaredy Cat: BF Halloween

So it turned out Eiji loved Halloween. L _oved_ it, much to Ash's dismay. That dismay feeding even more to how much he loved it. Eiji thought it was fun and cheesy. He loved the weather. He loved dressing up. He loved candy. He loved bad horror movies. It's not so much that Ash hated Halloween, he just didn't see why. Especially the horror movies; he found nothing amusing about a bunch of topless girls getting chased by a guy in a mask, but he supposed that was his trauma talking.

Ash liked pop music and would regularly sing in the shower. Eiji would tease him about it, but let him have his fun. He afforded Eiji the same courtesy when it came to Halloween. He just wished the other would stop leaving glow-in-the-dark jack-o-lanterns all over the house. It made his skin crawl.

This would be their second Halloween together. They had spent the whole month going on fall-centric dates like the apple orchard and row boating. Ash even bought them tickets for a helicopter color tour, so they could see Central Park's changing leaves from above.

Eiji brought him to a haunted house for one of the dates. Eiji had assured him the reviews said it wasn't that scary. He still cried. At least he didn't punch anybody. When something jumped out at him, he clung to Eiji, which the other found amusing and was probably the point of taking him to the haunted house.

He wished he hadn't talked a big game before going in. "Yeah, I'll be fine," "Yeah, it's just kid's stuff," "No, I won't be _too_ scared," Eiji knew him better than that. When he got to the end, he was sure the grip of his hand bruised Eiji's. He had accidentally knocked the smaller man into a wall when a particularly feisty monster had gotten up in his face. Then the actor had decided to follow them, enjoying Ash's whimpering.

He must have been visibly shaken because the girl at the exit waving them goodbye asked if he needed a water. He stared at her from over Eiji's shoulder, the other telling her it would be fine.

Overall it was unpleasant, but not traumatic. He supposed he was okay with being scared like this.

Ash still pouted. It was 3am. The night was warm for October. The breeze blew, ruffling Ash's long plaid coat, and leaves followed them home, dancing around each other.

…..

Eiji promised him apple pie and cider in exchange for a horror movie. Ash's dislike of pumpkins also extended to his palette.

He debated having them trying to make the pie together, but seeing as neither was much of a cook, they bought one. It wasn't as good as Ms. Coleman's.

Eiji didn't specifically have a taste for horror movies out of season. Ash didn't have a like of horror movies, but he was starting to appreciate that they weren't all the same. There seemed to be different genres of horror; Slasher, psychological, supernatural….

It was the slashers he had the biggest issue with; the cat and mouse stories. All the violence was comically fake, but sometimes he needed to leave the room. Sometimes it hit too close to home. His imagination brought up memories. Eiji didn't bring those movies home after the first time Ash caught him watching one and decided to snuggle.

The Japanese horror movies were a bit different. Most were supernatural urban stories. He still had the overactive imagination and would jump, but he didn't need to cover his eyes.

Humans were the worst monsters, but maybe these stories talked about universal fear, human desperation. Maybe they were just as reflective as the novels he liked, about the nature of humanity.

There had to be a reason a sweet boy like Eiji wasn't put off by such dark stories. He lay across his boyfriend's lap and watched the other's face as he watched the movie. The screen had his full attention. Emotional investment apparent in is eyes, his worried look, his gasp of surprise, puzzlement of trying to solve the mystery in his head before the plot revealed it…. These were very similar to Ash's novels.

He fell asleep on Eiji's lap only to be jerked awake when thighs tensed and jumped in reaction to the movie.

"Ah! I am sorry Ash! I didn't mean to disturb you,"

Ash grumbled and glared at the screen.

"You said we were going to watch a horror movie together. It's my fault for sleeping,"

….

They weren't having a Halloween party of their own this year, but the apartment building itself was having an all ages event and mingle. They were taking Michael, due to Max and Jessica wanting to go out.

Those two partied like they were young again, so they were also scheduled to take Michael trick-or-treating.

Ash groaned, this would definitely make him and Eiji look like a couple even more than they already did. He wasn't trying to hide their relationship, but it still felt weird all the ladies congratulating him on how 'brave' he was for 'coming out' and trying to give him advice on nice things to do for Eiji. It was strange, somewhat endearing, but overall it felt invasive.

But this feeling was normal, and Eiji liked extracting his embarrassing feelings. ….and he did like spending time with Michael.

Because of the party, Eiji took him costume shopping. Initially he protested.

But Eiji begged, gave him that look. The pleading, teasing look. Ash wasn't going to win this.

Grudgingly he followed Eiji to the store. A huge pop up store had opened for the season, selling all types of Halloween goods from decorations, home goods, to costumes, makeup, and accessories.

"That! I'm going to be a witch!" Eiji declared and popped on a luxurious purple velvet sorcerers hat.

"Again?" Ash looked curious,

"Yes, again. I am going to look even better this time," Eiji put his hands on his hips, excitement and pride apparent. Feathers in the hat bouncing with is movement. His childishness made Ash smile.

"Why do you like witches, Eiji?"

"Well, in Japanese folklore, a lot of the female monsters have a rightful reason to be angry. Most of them had horrible things happen to them in their previous life and now they are horrible and bitter,"

"That sounds like Yut-Lung, and you hate him,"

"I do not hate him. I pity him. And fantasy is different than reality. I also liked Sally the Witch as a child and I think I made a cute witch," Eiji stuck out his tongue, "Do you want to be my cat, Ash Lynx?"

Ash was not expecting to blush. He had never liked being compared to a cat; A sex kitten, a wild lynx, the leopard…. something less than human. He liked cats as animals, but found annoyance at his constant comparison to them…. Though he could see the resemblance. Even his name was a cat, Aslan.

"I-i don't think I get a choice. You'll make me dress up as something anyways,"

Eiji's grin was pure evil.

"I don't like creepy things, or sexy things," Ash warned him.

"It's a party for families, I hope you don't be creepy or sexy. A cat is perfect,"

The other quickly disappeared off into the store before Ash could argue that 'Sexy cat' was entirely a whole genre of costume.

Ash started in the women's section, might as well start at the bottom. He doubted there would be any cat costume anywhere that wasn't outright humiliating. He wasn't a stranger to crossdressing, but he preferred not to. His thin body made it easy to wear women's clothing.

In the women's section he found a catsuit with ears and tail. He wanted to amuse Eiji, but didn't need to seduce him. This wouldn't work.

He had never spent this much time before picking out clothes; wondering if someone would like it and genuinely caring if they didn't. He had thought about how to dress to seduce men before, but at the end of the day they just wanted him naked. If they wanted him in something specific, they would buy it for him. And dressing as a disguise was different than… this.

Men's section had nothing, but in the unisex section he found a large onesie that was supposed to be a lion. It was kind of dopey looking, but it at least looked cozy. This Halloween party wasn't with the boys, so dressing up didn't demean his status and authority as a former leader.

He showed it to Eiji, the other cracked a smile, but shook his head and told him it wouldn't work. 'Witches have cats, not lions,"

In the accessories section they found several sets of black cat ears and tails. Many came with collars and tags that said "kitten', 'baby', or "meow". Ash rolled his eyes. Halloween was ridiculous.

"These," Eiji pointed at a package. The black ears were fluffy and soft and on a thin headband. The tail had a simple clip to attach it to a belt. "You can wear your black jeans and T-shirt,"

"Okay, that doesn't sound bad,"

"And we can paint your face to have whiskers,"

"No"

"Why not? It would be cute,"

"You are not painting whiskers on my face,"

Eiji's look stated that if Ash dared fight him on this, Ash would lose.

…..

Before the party, Eiji gave him a collar to go with the costume. More of a necklace really; a pumpkin shaped bell on a short leather cord.

"Now we match," He gestured to the pumpkin brooch adorning his hatband.

He must have smiled as Eiji helped him tie it, because the other planted a kiss on the corner of his mouth. He tended to do that when he thought Ash was looking particularly flustered.

"Aww! You two are gross!" Michael giggled and made a face.

"Shut up you little gremlin!" Ash spat back. He liked Michael, but that didn't mean the kid wasn't asking to be scolded.

Eiji took his moment of vulnerability to grab Ash's chin and start marking his face with black eyeliner whiskers.

"HEY! I said no!"

Eiji stuck out his tongue, "It's Halloween. It washes off," He pinned Ash to the couch. He was always the stronger of the two, "Michael, help me hold him,"

Michael jumped on him. Ash squawked, trying to avoid getting green grease paint rubbed on him from the child.

The boy was supposed to be a zombie or Frankenstein's monster….. or something. They had let Michael do his own makeup, which was probably a mistake. Eiji had tried to touch it up, but neither him nor Ash were artists in this way. Michael seemed happy with it though, especially when Eiji confirmed to him that yes, the mess of green, brown, black, and yellow was 'very scary, so be careful of Ash'.

The scuffle was short and half-hearted. Ash gave in to the face paint whiskers.

"I still think you're cool Ash!" Michael swung his candy basket in a sing-song rhythm, walking down the hallway to the party. Eiji had his camera with him. The photos would be embarrassing either way, he was glad the others were having fun.

The party was enjoyable. A lot of housewives wanted to talk with him because they knew Eiji so well. A few of the young women flirted with him before realizing he was taken. There were games and drinking and bad dancing. After two beers Eiji decided he wanted Ash to dance with him. He blushed but complied. Michael then wanted to dance with the both of them and pestered Ash to play one of the kids games. He won a few plastic spider rings, which Michael happily stuck to all his fingers.

Overall it was fun.

This Halloween kind of reminded him of the ones he had with Griff. There were friends around, and family. Good company and good food. It wasn't that different from last year actually, when Eiji threw him the surprise party with all the pumpkins, but he didn't have the weight of the world on his shoulders anymore. He was in a much better place. That time seemed like so long ago.

After the party, they kept the necklace and the brooch together in a box. They might use them again next year. Maybe next year would be good too.

…..

Cheesy and rushed. Wrote Oct5th, but waited a to post a bit closer to Halloween. I talk too much. I hope you liked my fic.

My tumblr is blog/trashayfanfiction I'm new there.


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